


A House United

by albawrites



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 02:41:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2212689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/albawrites/pseuds/albawrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minimus survives a slaughterhouse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A House United

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING(s): Character death, huge amount of spoilers for MTMTE #32. Read at your own risk.  
> DISCLAIMER: None of the characters are owned by the author, simply written for amusement and the fact that I like working with interesting "what if" ideas.

Somehow, Tarn knew.

In the midst of everything, he knew everything about him as Ultra Magnus and Minimus Ambus. He knew, and it boggles his mind. How _could_ he have known the truth?

Yet, in the grand scheme of things, that in itself doesn't matter. It doesn't matter when he knows that most of them are dead. How he couldn't help anyone, whe Tailgate was getting impaled, how Swerve's head was crushed easily. He thinks of how everyone died. Maybe it's the shock of knowing how helpless he'd been, how helpless all of them had been. Nothing could stop them.

Nearly the entire crew had been slaughtered and all the fighting in the world didn't matter.

"Not that I'm questioning your orders," he hears Tesarus speak up as Kaon carries Minimus, "and I'm definitely not against having something to do until we get to the next person on the List, but who is this Autobot, anyway?"

Minimus is, frankly, too exhausted to be offended.

"It doesn't really matter," Kaon says frankly.

"No, guess not," Tesarus rumbles, his grinder clicking. Minimus flinches, thinking of Perceptor.

They pass by the remains of the ship and the crew. Minimus looks on distantly as he's taken away from it all and tries to not look over his shoulder. He can't give that implication of hope. It needs to be left behind.

They board their ship, the _Peaceful Tyranny._ Minimus doesn't expect to live much longer. In the end, he could do so little, after all. He tried to take the last living member of their crew and save him, and all he could do was cram poor Rewind into the remains of the Magnus armor. Too injured to keep operating the armor, Minimus had left it and left Rewind with no explanation of himself. There was no time.

And after that, Tarn found Minimus. Wordlessly, he ripped Minimus from his midsized load, leaving him in his irreducible state. Tarn's words slithered into his spark, leaving him helpless to do anything, limp and worthless.

But Rewind lives.

They settle on the bridge temporarily.

"Give him to me," Tarn instructs carefully, holding out his hand. "Vos, Kaon. Let's leave this sector."

Without hesitation, Kaon hands Minimus over to him. Tarn's arm curls around Minimus's waist, and they depart. The remaining Division do not bother Tarn.

This is it. He's going to be tortured to death. Minimus isn't proud of having been stripped down to this point, but he was able to keep one of their crew alive, for what it was worth. He'd be lying if he said he was afraid, but he's already accepted his fate.

They enter what he assumes to be Tarn's personal quarters, and he hears the door click locked.

Tarn shifts his hold on Minimus as he's lifted up. Carefully, Tarn squints at Minimus, observing him and all of the damages he's received. 

Then, Tarn does the unthinkable.

He embraces the smaller Autobot.

"Minimus," Tarn murmurs. "It's been too long."

There's a startled noise from Minimus, his optics widening. _What?_

"I can't promise that you'll remain completely unharmed. But you'll be alive. You'll be alive with me," Tarn promises, a hand stroking down Minimus's back. "You couldn't imagine how glad I was to see you, brother."

Minimus's optics flare open.

"I'll sing to you just like I used to. I've perfected our favorite song." Tarn's voice starts to change, becoming more familiar. Minimus feels dread sinking into his spark. "It won't be like before, but it'll be us again. The House of Ambus, united."

No. _No no no._ Minimus wishes he could struggle. This can't be.

"Dominus," Minimus struggles to say.

He can see his brother smile.


End file.
